Fitzgerald: You're a Texas guy who ended up going to (University of) Oregon - what made you go there?

James: I just wanted to be different. I wanted to make my own path. Everybody from Texas usually goes to Oklahoma or Texas or somewhere around home. I just wanted to be different and show that it's OK - that you can leave, and you can make it. I wanted to mature and be on my own and go down my own path.

Brooks: ... Just seeing you on Sunday for the first time in game action since college, you look like you put on some muscle. Is that an accurate perception?

James: Yeah, I weigh like 200 pounds. I've gotten a lot stronger, gotten a lot bigger. I just take it for what it is. You've got to have heart though, no matter how big you are.

Brooks: You didn't seem overwhelmed by the situation at all. The pros and college are really two different types of football, but do you think your days at Oregon prepared you for how you were being used on Sunday and how you may be used here in the future in the spread offense or the pistol?

James: Oh, yeah. Coach (Chip) Kelly is a great coach, on and off the field. I think the big thing about it is being mentally strong, and I think I'm one of the mentally strongest people out there. That's the way I look at it - I tell myself that I can go out and play with anybody, I can do anything I put my mind to. I think that thinking like that really helps me out.

Fitzgerald: You running the ball isn't really in question, but when you see a guy like (running back) Frank Gore doing the other things, like blitz pickup and blocking, what do you pick up from him?

James: He's remarkable. He picks up blitzes like nobody else I've seen. I think he could probably play on the offensive line the way he picks up those blitzes. You see him just stoning guys - his eyes are always in the right position, he knows where it's coming from. He does it in practice, and that's the way I look at it. A guy like him, I don't just see it on Sundays, I see it every day. He's a perfect citizen of the NFL. He does everything right - he carries himself well on and off the field. And he's got great leverage. He's not the biggest guy - he's not some 230-pound, huge, chiseled guy. But he plays like it. He plays hard, and he picks up those blitzes like nobody I've ever seen in my life.

Brooks: ... As far as you being able to do your job, do you think (quarterback) Colin Kaepernick matches up well with the way that you play and the way that this offense likes to play?

James: I don't know about the whole offense - I've only been here a couple months now - but as far as my style of play, I think he fits me perfectly. The things we've got going on right now, he's the perfect quarterback for them. He did a lot of these things at Nevada, so it's kind of second nature with all the reads and stuff that we do. Knowing that he's done it before, it's kind of a comfortable transition for both of us.

Brooks: What you saw from Monday's game with the Patriots, do you feel like that's the type of defense, with what you guys have been doing offensively, where you could get out in space and make some things happen?

James: Apparently we're going to have to. ... They're a good defense. I watched the game, and I think the Texans have a great offense. What they did to those guys, it kind of makes you wonder - how good is their defense? In my opinion, they're really good.